6 August 2021
Abahlali baseMjondolo Women’s League Press Statement
Women’s Day Political Education Workshop
On 9 August 1956 around 20 000 women marched on the Union Buildings in opposition to the attempt by the state to impose pass laws on African women. The march was proceeded by careful consultation with grassroots organisations, led by Bertha Mashaba and Helen Joseph.
The march itself was led by Lillian Ngoyi, Helen Joseph, Sophia Theresa Williams-de Bruyn and Rahima Moosa. Standing in front of the Union Buildings they sang: Wathint’ abafazi, wathint’ imbokodo, uza kufa!
Every year we remember and honour all these women. We also remind our members that some of the powerful women in that march and the struggles of the time were organising in shack settlements, like Florence Mkhize and Dorothy Nyembe who were committed organisers and strong leaders in Umkhumbane in Durban.
This year we will mark the day by holding a workshop on Women in Leadership at the Abahlali office. The purpose of the workshop is to grow women leaders politically, so that we can continue to build women’s power in struggle. Numbers have to be limited due to Covid protocols hence it will be held at the office.
Our movement was born in 2005. As Abahlali women we decided to form a Women’s League on 9 August 2008, and elected our first Women’s League structure which was mandated to organise women to join the Women’s League and make sure that there is a powerful women’s platform in the movement.
Since then we have worked to build this platform where women can discuss their own issues, and how women experience the structures of oppression. This includes the general problem of patriarchy, the need to build progressive forms of women’s power and leadership, domestic violence, gendered barriers to control of land, oppressive cultural practices, and women’s experiences of social crisis like poverty, hunger, HIV/Aids, evictions, the fact that there are no jobs for our children, and other issues.
The Covid lockdown caused a lot of trauma to the members of our movement. There were very violent illegal evictions and many women were abused, beaten and left to sleep out in the open. Many people lost jobs, and many families went hungry. In this crisis some women
became the victims of Gender Based Violence. Many women were not able to go to clinics because they were scared of the soldiers and so they defaulted on their medication.
The organised attempts to sabotage the economy in KwaZulu-Natal have also hit women hard as many jobs have been lost or interrupted.
This is a hard time for everyone, including the women in the movement, so this workshop will give everyone a chance to cough out their trauma and give each other support. We will begin with a collective reflection on recent events and then move on to other questions.
We will not just remember the women of 1956. We will also remember our own heroes. We will remember Nqobile Nzuza from the Marikana Land Occupation in Cato Crest who was murdered by the police in Cato Crest On 30 September 2013, at the age of 17 years. We will remember Thuli Ndlovu from KwaNdengezi who was murdered by two ANC councillors on 29 September 2014. And we will remember Zamekile Shangase from Asiyindawo who was murdered by the police on 29 July, Thursday last week, when they came to break open people’s shacks and seize their food.
Nomusa Sizani 081 005 3686
Zandile Nsibande 073 611 8279
Zanele Mtshali 062 437 9077